SSAT Lead Practitioners (LPs)

Professional Development OpportunityApplications for Winstanley College's SSAT Lead Practitioner accreditation programme 2018 are now being accepted. The programme is aimed at those who aspire to lead in teaching and learning and make cross centre improvements.

The programme offers significant opportunities for professional development and will include;

Working towards SSAT Lead Practitioner (LP) accreditation – a nationally recognised standard for supporting colleagues in improving their practice

Completing an Action Research project supported by an experienced LP coach which can be used as evidence for the application

Formal group and informal one to one mentoring from an experienced LP coach.

How to applyThere is a limit of 10 places on the programme. Please email Lead-practitioner@winstanley.ac.uk for a copy of the pro-forma to apply. The application process has been kept very simple and straightforward and should not prove onerous for anyone interested in the programme.

Note that LP accreditation is normally available to all full time staff, who wish to drive leadership of learning and enable impact across school and beyond. Part time staff who have a commitment to be involved will be considered
A panel will meet to look through the applications as quickly as possible thereafter.

Person specification

SSAT Lead Practitioners (LPs) are outstanding individuals who lead practice within and beyond their own place of work. They will not only demonstrate expertise in their field but also lead others to improve their practice, resulting in positive impact on student learning.

They will be able to provide evidence of meeting criteria across ten standards that identify their knowledge and skills used in leading practice across three categories:

Personal skills and attributes

Professional knowledge

Process and Impact on others

Key qualities, skills and experience of an LP:

LPs will:

Be based in a school, academy, college or educational organisation

Have a track record of high quality work and credibility in their field

Have good communication and presentation skills at all levels

Have the potential to share practice and where appropriate, build a sustainable, sharing network

Be creative, inspiring and resilient

Have excellent personal organisation and self-motivation

Be competent in the use of ICT

Show sensitivity in collaborative work across partnerships and/or phases

Have a commitment to high status vocational and work-related learning

Possess an enthusiasm for challenge, development and innovation

Be able to plan, manage and/or lead events

Have a commitment to professional development both of themselves and others

Have a commitment to work with partner schools/academies and the wider community

A lead practitioner is not a post; it is a professional development opportunity for a member of staff made available within the constraints of school/academy resources to those practitioners willing and able to meet the person specification and key qualities above.

Successful applicants will be:

An effective member of staff with the ideas and energy to support others in improving their work to support learning

Willing to and capable of undertaking SSAT Lead Practitioner accreditation

A permanent member of staff

Gaining LP accreditation

You will attend and complete all the training provided by the Winstanley College to reach the standard for LP accreditation. The intended gateway for submission of your LP accreditation portfolio will be June 2018.

You will share the experience of gaining SSAT LP accreditation with interested colleagues at your home school and elsewhere.

You will commit to participate in the online forums and communities for SSAT Lead Practitioner network if successfully accredited.

You will need to develop examples of ways that you have supported colleagues in their practice. The school/academy will make time available to you for this purpose.

You will work with us to identify where your support can best be used and where you are best supported in your accreditation.

What sort of time commitment is involved?

Inevitably there is a commitment in something like this, but the process of accreditation, whilst rigorous is not onerous. There are two face-to-face sessions delivered by SSAT, a Launch and an application support session, each consisting of around 2 ½ hours. In addition, cohort ‘get-together’ where you can share experiences and support one another are encouraged each half term.

The accreditation system is online and you will upload aspects of your work to an online portfolio of evidence for submission by June 2018. There will be some additional CPD sessions put on outside the normal school calendar that you do need to be prepared to attend. A list is available on request. The programme does not involve any overnight/ residential element and all travel will generally be local.

Who can apply?

You don’t have to be a teacher to take part but you would need to show that your work was contributing to improving the practice of others in supporting learning. You do not need to have a TLR or management responsibility to apply. You can apply if you are part time member of staff but are committed to involvement. Please bear in mind however that we may need to run events on days where you may not be normally be at school

What does the course cost?

The full cost of the course is £570

How does this relate to Specialist Leader of Accreditation?

Your portfolio for LP accreditation is directly relevant for your application to become a Specilaist Leader of Education (SLE). LP accreditation can also be used to access 30 credits on the Education Masters degree at Nottingham University.

LP accreditation is both an excellent professional learning journey and could be a useful piece of evidence for presenting in a Performance Management portfolio later. You will certainly generate a lot of evidence towards all the national standards in the programme.

Please note SSAT LPs range from outstanding practitioners, support staff, Deputy Headteachers and in some cases Headteachers. It is aimed at those who want to lead in teaching and learning.

Does achieving accredited lead practitioner status mean I might be asked to get involved in working with SSAT?

As an accredited LP you will be added to SSAT LP database and may be offered opportunities to engage in future LP activities. Any involvement outside school would depend on whether there was a need, whether you could be released and whether you yourself would like to develop that aspect of your career.